Kristin Scott Thomas- Actor of the Week

Kristin Scott Thomas- English or French?

I think Kristin Scott Thomas is a wonderful actress and I find the fact that she has lived in France since she was 19 fascinating. Employed as an au pair when she was a teen and fluent in French, she never left. She married a French obstetrician (now divorced) and raised three children there. She stars in both English and French language films and appears to be aging gracefully. What's not to love?

Kristin with Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral

Of course her all time great role in my estimation is that of Fiona in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Who else could have given that role it's depth, both in comedy and tragedy? A legendary performance! Poor Fifi.

Fiona: There's a sort of greatness to your lateness.
Charles: Thanks, it's not achieved without real suffering.

Kristin with Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient

After all of these years, I am still not sure whether I liked The English Patient or not. I think I did...perhaps I should watch it again and decide.

Almásy: What do you love?
Katharine Clifton:What do I love?
Almásy: Say everything.
Katharine Clifton: Hm, let's see... Water. Fish in it. And hedgehogs; I love hedgehogs.
Almásy: And what else?
Katharine Clifton: Marmite - I'm addicted. And baths. But not with other people. Islands. Your handwriting. I could go on all day.
Almásy: Go on all day.
Katharine Clifton: My husband.
Almásy: What do you hate most?
Katharine Clifton: A lie. What do you hate most?
Almásy: Ownership. Being owned. When you leave, you should forget me.

Kristin as Lady Elizabeth Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl

I have to confess that I have not seen Kristin Scott Thomas in as Anne Boleyn's mother in The Other Boleyn Girl. Please someone tell me if this is something I should seek out. I love how Kristin looks in Elizabethan costume!

Actually, besides KST, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, it also stars Benedict Cumberbatch, David Morrisey and Eddie Redmayne so I think I have just answered my own question. I'll watch it soon.


Lady Elizabeth: Now go to France. The queen of France is sophisticated. Be useful to her, amuse her. She'll admire your spirit. Learn from her. Observe the ladies of the court. See how they achieve what they want from their men, not by stamping their little feet but by allowing the men to believe that they, indeed, are in charge. That is the art of being a woman.

Kristin as Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Patricia Maxwell in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

I really adored Kristin's character in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. As the Prime Minister's Press Secretary, she is efficiency itself and she plays the part to hilarious comedic perfection. I need to see this film again but it isn't on DVD until July 17th!


Patricia Maxwell: We need a good news story from the Middle East. A big one!

Kristin Scott Thomas as Lady Sylvia in Gosford Park

I think her performance in Gosford Park was truly inspired. She had the snobby, horsey aristocrat down to a tee. Imagine winning your husband in a game of cards! Ugh!

Constance, Countess of Trentham: He's still got that vile little dog, I see.
Lady Sylvia McCordle: Yes, the ones we hate last forever.

***********************************************************************************

And then there is Keeping Mum, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Easy Virtue...I could go on all day. Any films I missed or would you like to agree or disagree with any of my choices?

Cheers!

Anna Chancellor- Actor of the Week

Anna Chancellor

Forever Duckface, Anna Chancellor is probably best known as the woman Hugh Grant's character almost marries in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Anna Chancellor and Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral

Henrietta could not have been played by anyone else. Anna Chancellor is at her best in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Charles: Perhaps we should've got married.
Henrietta: No! I'd have had to marry your friends, and I'm not sure I could take Fiona.
Charles: Fiona loves you.
Henrietta: Fiona calls me Duckface.
Charles: Well, I never heard that. 

Anna Chancellor as Miss Bingley in P&P

As the catty and desperate Miss Bingley in Pride and Prejudice 1995, Anna Chancellor is just what Jane Austen would have wanted. There is some wonderful irony in the fact that Jane Austen is her eight times great-aunt. She was born to play Miss Bingley.

Miss Bingley: I believe I can guess your thoughts at this moment.
Mr. Darcy: I should imagine not.
Miss Bingley: You are thinking how insupportable it would be to spend many evenings in such tedious company.
Mr. Darcy: No, indeed, my mind was more agreeably engaged. I've been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.
Miss Bingley: And may one dare ask whose the eyes that inspire these reflections?
Mr. Darcy: Miss Elizabeth Bennet's.
Miss Bingley: Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I am all astonishment.

Anna Chancellor with Amanda Bynes and Kelly Preston in What a Girl Wants

As if it isn't bad enough to lose Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice, she loses him again in What a Girl Wants. One might think there was some typecasting going on here!

Glynnis Payne: I know my daddy was naughty, but what about me?

Anna Chancellor as Questular Rontok in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

As Vice President of the Galaxy Questular Rontok in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, she tries unsuccessfully to hide her  love for Zaphod Beeblebrox. Poor Anna, she can't even land a guy with two heads and three arms!


 Questular Rontok: [about Trillian] She's lying. She's skinny, and she's pretty, and she's lying!

Anna Chancellor as Juliet Shaw with Peter Firth as Harry Pearce in Spooks

As ruthless right-wing Juliet Shaw in Spooks (MI5) we get to see Anna as a real ball buster. Juliet versus Ros is something to behold.

Fortysomething with Hugh Laurie, Anna Chancellor and Benedict Cumberbatch

One of the reasons I still love writing this blog after 2 years (other than the fact that I have some of the best readers & commenters on the internet) is that together we discover some unknown gems of film or television.

Fortysomething is a 6 episode TV series from 2003 starring Anna Chancellor as the sexy wife of Hugh Laurie, a slightly befuddled medical doctor. Sort the opposite of Dr. House if you can imagine. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the eldest of 3 rather horny male offspring in this hilariously dysfunctional abode.

If you want to give it a whirl, the first episode is on YouTube here. I am afraid I will be watching this all weekend now!!!

Anna Chancellor as Lix Storm in The Hour

The Hour is a behind the scenes drama about a Cold-War era investigative news program in England. I am dying to see this one, so someone who has already watched it, please tell us all how you liked it! Anna Chancellor, Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai, Domenic Cooper, Tim Piggot-Smith, Juliet Stevenson...I am drooling at the thought!

Well, I certainly do appreciate the talent of Anna Chancellor in her many varied roles. I also liked her in the girly film Crush and in the recently released Hysteria. She is always fun to watch. Which are your faves of hers?

Hugh Grant- Actor of the Week

Hugh Grant

In honour of his new animated film The Pirates! Band of Misfits or The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists depending on your side of the pond, my actor of the week is Hugh Grant. I will admit to a bit of a weakness for Hugh's films. If you take a look at his IMDb page, you will see why I had trouble narrowing down my choices for this post. So if I just limit myself to period films first,we have...

Hugh Grant in Sense and Sensibility

Although a little stiff-necked, Hugh Grant is wonderful as Edward Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility. One of his best roles!

Hugh Grant and Tara Fitzgerald in The Englishman who...yada yada yada

In The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain, he plays an English cartographer who has to tell a Welsh village that their mountain is only a hill. I'm going to have to see this one again, as I have been to Wales since I first saw the film (it is breathtaking) and as I recall, the film was pretty darn good.

Hugh Grant as Reginald Cardinal in The Remains of the Day

In The Remains of the Day, he has a small but wonderful part in this riveting film which is now almost 20 years old!

Hugh Grant and Judy Davis in Impromptu

In Impromptu as Chopin and opposite the luminous Judy Davis as George Sand, he is sweet and funny. Not a serious take on Chopin, this one is right up my alley. I love a spot of comedy! Emma Thompson has a riot as the loopy Duchess in this one as well. Love her!

**********************************************************************************

Ok...now for the non-period films of Hugh Grant's which I absolutely adore. No, they are not high art but they always entertain.

Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget: Apparently, I used to run round naked in his paddling pool.
Daniel Cleaver: I bet you did, you dirty bitch.

Love Actually

Prime Minister: Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around.

Music and Lyrics

Alex Fletcher: The best time I've had in the last fifteen years was sitting at that piano with you.
Sophie Fisher: That's wonderfully sensitive... especially from a man who wears such tight pants.
Alex Fletcher: It forces all the blood to my heart.

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Fiona: There's a sort of greatness to your lateness.
Charles: Thanks, it's not achieved without real suffering.

About a Boy

Will: I couldn't possibly think of a worse godfather for Imogene. You know me. I'll drop her at her christening. I'll forget her birthdays until her 18th, when I'll take her out and get her drunk and possibly, let's face it, you know, try and shag her. I mean, seriously, it's a very, very bad choice.
Christine: We know, I just thought you had hidden depths.
Will: No. No. You've always had that wrong. I really am this shallow.

Two Weeks Notice

George Wade: I own the hotel, and I live there. My life is very much like Monopoly.

Notting Hill

Keziah: No thanks, I'm a fruitarian.
Max: I didn't realize that.
William: And, ahm: what exactly is a fruitarian?
Keziah: We believe that fruits and vegetables have feeling so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush - that are, in fact, dead already.
William: Right. Right. Interesting stuff. So, these carrots...
Keziah: Have been murdered, yes.
William: Murdered? Poor carrots. How beastly!

Nine Months

Rebecca Taylor: Sam! My water broke!
Samuel Faulkner: Well, we'll get you another one! 

OK, that last one seems very appropriate since Hugh Grant has finally become a father to a little girl Tabitha with Chinese actress Tinglan Hong. Who knew he had hidden depths?

Did I miss any of Hugh Grant's films that you really love? I left out the film Restoration with Robert Downey Jr. and Sam Niell, because I had never heard of it but which looks awesome. Can anyone recommend it?

Sophie Thompson- Actor of the Week

Sophie Thompson onstage in Clybourne Park

Sophie Thompson is one of my absolute favourite actresses. Her smile and her eyes are so expressive and she seems to truly inhabit every role she is in. She comes from a very talented family, as Emma Thompson is her sister and Phyllida Law is her mother. But she is a force onscreen in her own right.

Sophie Thompson as Lydia in Four Weddings and a Funeral

Bernard: How's it going, Lyds?
Lydia: Bloody awful.
Bernard: Oh dear, what's the problem?
Lydia: I was promised sex. Everybody said it. You'll be a bridesmaid, you'll get sex, you'll be fighting 'em off. But not so much as a tongue in sight.
Bernard: Well, I mean, if you fancy anything, I could always...
Lydia: Oh, don't be ridiculous, Bernard. I'm not that desperate.

Sophie Thompson as Miss Bates in Emma with her mother Phyllida Law as Mrs. Bates

  
Miss Bates: It left us speechless, quite speechless I tell you, and we have not stopped talking of it since.

Sophie Thompson as Mary Musgrove in Persuasion

Mary Musgrove: Are you coming in, Henrietta, or is my cottage insufficiently grand for you?

Sophie Thompson (second from left) as Dorothy in Gosford Park

Dorothy: I believe in love. Not just getting it, but giving it. I think that if you're able to love someone, even if they don't know it, even if they can't love you back, then it's worth it. 

Sophie Thompson as Mafalda Hopkirk in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

She even got a small part in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 as Mafalda Hopkirk. And she also plays Hermione Granger pretending to be Mafalda Hopkirk...oh, it's complicated!

Emma and Sophie Thompson as teenagers

In the old family photo above, you can see that although there is a family resemblance, their eyes are totally different. Sophie has the wide open eyes that gave Lydia from Four Weddings and a Funeral her wonderful look.

Sophie Thompson and Richard Lumsden at the Olivier Awards 2011 (Sophie was nominated)

Sophie lives with her husband Richard Lumsden in London with their sons Ernie and Walter. She met Richard on the set of Sense and Sensibility. He played the coxcomb Robert Ferrars, brother to Hugh Grant's character Edward Ferrars. Her sister Emma married Greg Wise, who played Willoughby in S&S.  Up until recently, she lived on the same street as her mother and her sister. She moved all of a mile away!

I am now going to pop in my recently arrived DVD and see her in The Young Visiters (written by a 9 year old, hence the spelling). Also starring Jim Broadbent and Hugh Laurie, I can't wait to see if she is frumpy or glam. She can do it all!

My fave British (non period) comedies

Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994

Young Bridesmaid: What's bonking?
Scarlett: Well, it's kinda like table tennis, only with slightly smaller balls.

Love Actually 2004

Sam: Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love.

The Full Monty

Dave: Anti-wrinkle cream there may be, but anti-fat-bastard cream there is not. 

A Fish Called Wanda 1988

Ken: Rev-enge!
Otto: [laughing] It's K-K-K-Ken! C-c-c-coming to k-k-k-kill me! How you gonna c-c-c-catch me, K-K-K-Ken?

Calendar Girls 2003

Chris: Lawrence, we're going to need considerably bigger buns.

Educating Rita 1983

Rita: Christ! My customer! She only come in for a demi-wave, she'll come out looking like a flippin' muppet!

Notting Hill 1999

Keziah: No thanks, I'm a fruitarian.
Max: I didn't realize that.
William: And, ahm: what exactly is a fruitarian?
Keziah: We believe that fruits and vegetables have feeling so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush - that are, in fact, dead already.
William: Right. Right. Interesting stuff. So, these carrots...
Keziah: Have been murdered, yes.
William: Murdered? Poor carrots. How beastly!

Bridget Jones's Diary 2001

Mr. Darcy: I like a woman with an arse you can park a bike in and balance a pint of beer on.

Death at a Funeral 2007 (not 2010!)

Jane: Would you like a cup of tea, Sandra?
Sandra: Tea can do many things, Jane, but it can't bring back the dead.

Kinky Boots 2005

Lauren: Lola, you're gonna have to excuse Charlie. We don't have many transvestites in Northampton.
Lola: I'm not merely a transvestite, sweetheart. I'm also a drag queen. It's a simple equation. A drag queen puts on a frock, looks like Kylie. A transvestite puts on a frock, looks like... Boris Yeltsin in lipstick. There, I said it.

About a Boy 2002

Marcus: Suddenly I realized - two people isn't enough. You need backup. If you're only two people, and someone drops off the edge, then you're on your own. Two isn't a large enough number. You need three at least.

Pirate Radio (The Boat That Rocked) 2009

Dave: So tell us Mark, now at the very end - what was your secret? How did you get all them girls?
Mark: Simple. Don't say anything at all.
'Young' Carl: Nothing?
Mark: Nothing. Then, when the tension becomes too much to bear, you finally, finally, you just say: "How about it, then?"

Bend It Like Beckham 2002

Wedding Guest: Lesbian? Her birthday's in March. I thought she was a Pisces.

**********************************************************************************

So, there you have a list of some of my favourite British Comedy Films (not period pieces). I have obviously left a few off of my list which should be there so please help me out and leave a comment with your faves, whether they are on my list or not!

Cheers!